[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 121 (Wednesday, July 18, 2018)]
[House]
[Page H6473]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    THE STALWART REPUBLIC OF GEORGIA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Poe) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, 10 years ago this August, Russian 
tanks rolled across the border into the independent nation of Georgia. 
After 5 days of bloody fighting, with thousands of innocent Georgians 
displaced from their homes, the conflict ended with the Russians 
promising to pull back its forces.
  I happened to be in Georgia 1 week after the Russian invasion and saw 
the tanks on the high ground and the destruction that the Russians made 
of Tbilisi. It is 10 years since that invasion and Moscow and its 
troops still occupy one-third of sovereign territory of the Republic of 
Georgia.
  The Kremlin claims these Russian troops are in Georgia as 
peacekeepers. Are you kidding me? It is an invasion. They are a heavily 
armed battle group waiting to provoke Georgia into another fight. They 
have committed horrific human rights abuses against the Georgian 
people, often harassing civilians and denying Georgians the ability to 
move about their country freely.
  The continued presence of Russian troops on Georgian soil presents a 
major violation of international law. America's response at the time 
was to condemn and issue sanctions against the Russians, but the Obama 
administration removed the punishing sanctions against Russia as part 
of its foolish reset with the Kremlin.
  We now know this demonstration of weakness only encouraged further 
aggression from Russia, and it invaded a neighbor state in 2014. This 
time it seized and annexed Crimea from Ukraine, another independent 
sovereign state that Russia had sworn to respect. Then Russian tanks 
moved on and invaded eastern Ukraine and occupied part of that 
territory.
  After 10 years of illegal occupation of Georgian territory, we need 
to do more to help our Georgian friends resist the Russian bear. 
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Georgia emerged as the 
beacon of hope in the region and hope for democracy. Georgia's faithful 
commitment to a strong democracy with free and fair elections serves as 
a shining example for other countries in Eastern Europe. Russia hoped 
to break this beacon of hope 10 years ago, but Georgia has remained 
defiant.
  As co-chair of the Congressional Georgia Caucus, I have long seen 
that major vulnerabilities remain that Russia could exploit. Georgia is 
a small country. It cannot afford to compete with the might of the 
Russian bear. That is why I have introduced the Georgia Support Act 
along with my caucus co-chair, Representative Connolly from Virginia.
  Through this important bill, we hope to significantly enhance 
Georgia's ability to combat and deter Putin's wicked activities. With 
our assistance, America can provide Georgia specific advantages that 
can make any new attempt by Russia a costly endeavor.
  Also, with modern warfare extending to cyberspace, we can improve 
coordination to identify Russia's cyber attacks and build safeguards 
within. This means building up Georgia's ability to combat 
disinformation and propaganda from Russia.
  As we have seen, Moscow is all over the world trying to undermine 
democracies by invading their elections, including our own. Working 
with Georgian partners, we can show Russia has been caught.
  Additionally, this bill calls on President Trump to impose sanctions 
for serious human rights abuses in that occupied territory of Georgia. 
Not only will it help our Georgian friends on the front line of Russian 
aggression, but it sends a message to the Kremlin that America will and 
must stand up against that bad behavior and defend the international 
rule of law.
  Czar Putin must be shown that his dream of rebuilding the Russian 
empire is not going to happen. We must show our freedom-loving friends 
around the globe that America will stand with them. The Georgian people 
have shown they will fight for freedom, even against overwhelming odds.
  While the Kremlin believes that it has prevented Georgia's 
aspirations of joining the important organization of NATO by seizing 
territory, we can send a signal that that victory is hollow. Georgia is 
still on the path to greater integration with the West. Georgia must 
remain, with our help, free and prosperous. Russia will find itself 
isolated and full of regret for ever following Putin's foolish ambition 
of aggression in the region.
  And that is just the way it is.

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